The French government's decision to create an uproar over women who cover up on the country's beaches was always going to be trouble. In a way, the ban on the so-called "burkini" bathing wear is reminiscent of the equally misguided attempt by our own government to ban Islamic head wear in schools. Such state interference is not just unnecessary but divisive. The Paris government would be wise to consider the lessons learned in Thailand, accept they were wrong and abandon this poorly conceived law.
There are differences with the burkini ban by France and the unnecessary dispute and controversy caused by the Chatichai Choonhavan government in 1988. But they are minor. The most notable was that then-prime minister Chatichai and his regime insisted that girls in the deep South could not wear the hijab because it technically broke school regulations. That is, teachers could not, at a glance, check whether the girls were flouting the rules on length of hair.
France treats the burkini as a thought crime. French officials claim to know that Muslim women are wearing the loose-fitting, body-covering version of a wet suit to defy authority, and show support for terrorists including Islamic State. These officials include the president of France, Francois Hollande, and David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes and a prime mover in the campaign to ban the burkini. Their ability to divine the thoughts of every burkini-clad woman may be questionable, but their ability to foster resentment and divide the country is not.
Just as Gen Chatichai tried in vain to justify an entirely illogical ban on the hijab, so Mr Hollande, Mr Lisnard and their supporters continue to foster enforcement and bitterness. None of it is worth the clothing ban -- not in Thailand, where Gen Chatichai and friends had to eventually back down, and certainly not in France. In both cases, the clothing bans serve no useful purpose. Mr Hollande can claim state security piety on banning the niqab and the burqa, which include face veils. The burkini, like any normal work and leisure clothing, in no way impedes security or identification.
So it was in Thailand with the hijab. Gen Chatichai, conservative teachers' groups and the Education Ministry claimed that rules are rules. The very people who wrote the rules were wrong in the first place. The ban caused a major political backlash throughout the country. By the time the government backed down and acknowledged the rights of school children and parents to provide appropriate and conservative dress, Muslims and those concerned with civil rights were seriously offended and resentful.
Of course the pedants and sticklers and the unimaginative continue to make their presence felt. In 2011, the Education Ministry under then prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva tried to promote "an optional school uniform" for Muslim students in Bangkok, without the hijab of course. Ironically, pious Buddhist women clad in white led a protest against Muslim girls in hijab.
Then last year, the director of Baan Nai Yong School in Phang Nga province banned the hijab, claiming schoolgirls were wearing scarves longer than 120cm. "Don't bring divisions into my school," the director told the girls. Kamol Rodklai, of the Office of the Basic Education Commission, moved the director to an inactive post. Quite properly, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha intervened. He said schools should never impose rules against the hijab, which is a part of the Muslim identity. This is simply common sense, which officials show they lack -- in Thailand and in France.